Compromise
by Lost Legendaerie
Summary: A princess, a lady, a knight; how everything is fair in love and in war but it's not the same kind of battle, and how a fairy tale ending is often just the begining. (Drew/Brianna and implied Drew/May, fast-forward fic for the 10th Contestshipping Day)


_Sometimes I get really tired of the same old approach to shipping (so I don't approach it at all and just lurk around the subject, weaving a web of metaphor and meaningless conjecture.) Inspired, partly, by the song 'Just Be Friends' by Megurine Luka and also by a fic called Tarnished Silver (LoZ fandom)._

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**com·pro·mise **

/ˈkämprəˌmīz/

_verb _: Settle a dispute by mutual concession; to come to terms

_past tense_: Weaken (a reputation or principle) by accepting standards that are lower than is desirable.

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_"Once, there was a beautiful princess and an equally beautiful knight; but he was not her knight, not by far. He belonged to no one save himself, and though he had sworn himself to his duty to be the greatest warrior in all the land, it came to pass that he fell in love with a lady from a nearby kingdom."_

A clatter from the kitchen made Brianna look up from her handheld computer; from the corner of her eye, she could spot her boyfriend trying to sneak around without her noticing. And, sadly, this was a tactic that often worked - she'd find a rose packed in her suitcase sometimes if she didn't find him sprawled, clothed and exhausted, on her latest hotel bed - but she was on high alert this past week, and nothing he did went unnoticed. She detected the sound of the fridge opening and knew it was to cover up him ordering room service; a deduction based on the fact that there wasn't anything beyond bottled drinks for them and their Pokemon in there, and they'd both be far too busy to cook the rest of their stay.

Which made her sad, underneath her thrill over her own deviousness, because she knew why she was paranoid. It also made her uneasy, because she wondered if he noticed her extra attention and if he drew any conclusions over her behavior; but if he really knew why she was upset and edgy then she had even more of a reason to be edgy in the first place.

Not that she doubted her own judgement; she knew true love when she saw it.

Brianna tapped the tip of her stylus pen to her lips, debating whether or not to react to Drew's actions as she returned her stare to the screen. She'd read the story several times before, and she had plenty of other things to do in preparation for the Grand Festival on whose doorstep they perched. Only a couple days and a few hundred feet separated them from the actual event, and normally she'd be a bundle of nerves by now. But she'd long since learned that distractions - and an excellent poker face - were all she needed.

Despite all this self-assurance, Brianna wondered if he'd really be as happy as he claimed he would be - once he'd retired from coordinating. But if she wondered too much about that, she knew she'd also wonder if he was happy at the moment at all.

Stretching luxuriously in the armchair, she rolled to the side and headed for the shower, knowing that she'd exit just in time for a kiss at the breakfast table as he claimed the bathroom and left her to a cooling breakfast of room service and some adorably personal touch. Flower petals on the table, an elegantly folded napkin, perhaps the more practical guide to the Festival's events with a few of his scathing notes on the pomp and circumstance of it all; there was certainty in this, at least. Perhaps not permanence, but certainty in the here and now.

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_"The lady was lovely, but wild as the land she came from. When the princess' father learned of the match he disapproved and did all he could to stymie their bond. But the warrior spirit was strong in both, and none could contain them by might alone. So the king made the knight swear fealty to his kingdom and, in a spiteful gesture, declared war against the lady and her people."_

The autumn sunlight in the outdoor stadium proved too bright to be able to read by, and Brianna regretfully pocketed the small device in her pink purse, fixing the glasses she'd been forced to wear in her later years more securely on her nose.

"Hey, you're Brianna, aren't you?"

A man in his late teens - her age, give or take a bit - was scowling down at her. His glasses were considerably less discreet than hers but it added to his look of a starving amateur professor; deep blue hair parted in the middle, framing his face in a careless sort of way as though someone else had taken great pains to cut it fashionably and he refused to style it as it was meant to have been worn. Familiar, to her, somehow, but she couldn't place it.

She shook his hand before returning hers to her lap, folding it delicately over the earthy tones of her modest skirt.

"I am. But forgive me, I'm not sure who you are?"

To her dismay, he took the seat directly beside her. To her further dismay, he introduced himself as "Max, son of Norman from Petalburg, training under Professor Gary Oak. But you probably know me better as May's little brother."

"Are you?" she asked rhetorically, politely, feeling her heart flutter and sink like an exhausted, caged bird. There went her last hope for safety; her last hope that somehow, this had been the year May hadn't made it. "You must be here to see her compete then."

"Of course. And you're here for Drew-"

"And to compete as well," she reminded him, pulling out a Pokeball purposefully to check the placement of the Seals she'd adjusted that same morning when she'd made a lovely appeal with her Chatot. Drew found Seals flashy, but had never objected to her use of them. Not to May's use of them, either.

Her fingers tightened around the Pokeball briefly.

If Max noticed her strain, he had the class not to say anything. But perhaps he was distracted by the announcement of the next contestant.

"All the way from Petalburg City, Hoenn's Princess of Contests and a runner-up for last year's Ribbon Cup in Sinnoh. Let's hear it for May!"

Brianna couldn't make out anything the brunette might have said, nor did she check the bigscreen display for anything but her once-rival's Pokemon of choice. A Haxorus! She narrowed her eyes. How fortunate, to have friends that would trade her Pokemon from distant regions.

The appeal was lovely, a Sword Dance followed by an Outrage so great some of the younger contestants might have feared the coliseum would be damaged. But her control over her Pokemon was impeccable - or she was, as she nearly always had been, extremely lucky - and Brianna clapped along with the rest of them.

She didn't hate May. She never had.

But she was very, very afraid of her.

"Up next, the winner of last year's Ribbon Cup, let's welcome The Blue Rose of Hoenn, Drew!"

Her lips turned down in a frown at the use of the nickname Drew personally despised, and mentally made a note to ask Lilian not to use the term coined by an old rival after a particularly hard loss had left him looking depressed. Of course by now the Blue Rose was an honorific of sorts that seemed - to those not familiar with its origins or the young man's own tastes - to compliment his class and his unusual skill.

But, still. It bothered him, so it bothered her.

He'd grown tall over the years, but on stage he seemed even taller still, a figure surrounded by an impenetrable aura of confidence and dressed in dark green, black and amber . His Xatu was a thing of beauty, of course, wowing the crowd with a flawless combination of Featherdance and Psychic that filled the stadium with floating, glowing feathers and earned him a near perfect score. But even as her heart filled with joy and pride for his skill, it sunk with the knowledge that this last Cup was likely marking the end of his career.

Drew never spoke as to why he was retiring, not to her at least. His mentor, the other rose-haired lady in his life, may well have known but Brianna was too proud to ask her.

And that frightened her as well.

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_"Battles raged on and the knight proved ceaselessly victorious. But the princess was alarmed for her knight, for if he was ever to meet the lady in battle she feared he would be struck down by his weakness. So the princess learned to take up the sword and fight for herself, because she loved the knight as well."_

Outside the building, the roar of the crowds in the stadium was just a meaningless babble like the sound of a distant river, but Brianna was no less distracted. She'd read the first line at least six times, her hands still shaking with frustration and exhilaration at her victory over a previous Cup winner named Robert; only a few steps away from the final round and just one last battle before she could have a chance to knock out May. It had been a very close match, and as she let her Skiploom and Chatot recover inside their Pokeballs, she started working out strategies in her head for victory.

Not once had May lost to her.

It was her right, no, her _destiny_, no, her _duty_ to battle on Drew's behalf here. She wanted to support him in any way possible and be able to proudly stand beside him as he took home a third hard earned Ribbon Cup, and that meant taking out one of her- _their_ hardest rivals. Haxorus and Blastoise had proven themselves hard to beat so far, but nothing was impossible.

Someone took the spot next to her on the bench, and she leaned into their shoulder instinctively. Drew didn't return the gesture, nor did he whisper words of encouragement or congratulations; but a white rose, pure as snow and gentle as his kiss goodnight, was tucked into her ear. Only a few feet away, a handful of leaves were picked up in a tiny swirl of wind - a joyful Zigzagoon chased one of them before being called back by their Coordinator. Yet this distraction seemed to happen miles away. Her world was tiny and perfect, containing nothing but her, Drew, and a worn bench in the fall sunlight.

"You probably shouldn't be out here with me," she whispered, directing her words to her lap as he sighed contentedly.

"No, I'm safe. The reporters are too busy covering Harley's match against Wallace. It's been pretty good so far. You might want to come in and watch - see what you can't pick up about them?"

Mutely, she wondered if May was watching the match as well. "I like it out here. It's quieter."

He stayed silent for a bit, his arm across the back of the bench radiating a gentle heat. He was like the sunshine to her, distant but not cold, bright and warm and constant; she wanted to bottle him up and wear him around her neck, to bask in his brilliance always. She loved him. Of course she did.

There was an abrupt mutual gasp from the stadium, a rush of air like the inverse of popping a giant balloon. Drew's muscles tensed, and she knew that their moment of peace was gone, even though he made no move to go. His attention had already been yanked elsewhere.

She found his hand on the bench, squeezed it, and untangled herself from his arm. "Go back inside."

"If you say so. " If he was at all upset, he was good at hiding it.

Suddenly, her mind changed; it was like the moment slowed and filled with greater meaning as he pulled away. Her reflexes were a bit too slow, and when she grabbed for him as he stood, she missed. Drew stopped anyway and gave her a concerned look over his shoulder.

"Is everything all right?"

Brianna's mind raced for an excuse - she had none, not even a solid justification for her actions other than a sudden fear that he was going back inside to watch battles with May. "Uh, c-could you bring me a bottled water when the match is over?"

"You don't want to come watch May battle Solidad after this?" He looked amused, but his eyes were studying her face with silent scrutiny in a way that she'd always loved, and found thrillingly intense.

But this time she blushed for a different reasons and sat back on the bench, tucking her ankles underneath her and curling up uncomfortably. "I guess I wasn't paying attention to who's next. No, that's fine. Don't worry about the water, then."

They could have whole conversations in the spaces between their words, and often did. Most of the time though, it was simple and sweet things they didn't want others to hear. These days, they left the things they didn't want to hear left unsaid, but understood.

So he said, "There's a vending machine in the East Lobby," instead of,_ 'Come find me if you change your mind,' _and she smiled anyway. They both knew she wouldn't come.

She turned her attention back to her readings then, but had no heart in it as Drew walked away; her eyes started blankly at the busy pages as her mind filled with words narrating an entirely different story; that of a girl who was strangled by the red string of fate between two lovers.

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_"She fought in the shadows, against the wishes of those who loved her and feared for her; but the princess took up the armor of war willingly, driven by cause enough to take another life. And after months of war that left the princess stained by blood she never wished to shed, the lady was at the end of her sword."_

The start of another day brought in a tense, cloudy dawn which rumbled with the promise of rain. Brianna had stationed herself in a tiny little alcove by the window in her shared hotel room, trying to calm her thundering heart by plunging herself into stories. There were only four left; herself, Drew, a man named Harley, and May. She'd chosen her Pokemon already, and she'd battle with all of her skill possible.

Meanwhile, across the room, Drew was catching up on his own sort of pre-contest ritual; combing the fluff on the top of his Roserade's head as Butterfree hummed and snuck a swig of Drew's Oran juice.

The sight was adorable. Brianna closed her reader and stood up, walking across the room very softly so as not to disturb them and checking the style of her hair in the bathroom mirror.

"My battle's in an hour. Will you be watching?"

"Of course," he assured her, his attention still rapt on his Pokemon as she watched him in the reflection. It wasn't unusual for him to be wrapped up in other things - things other than her - so she ignored his inattention and pulled on her shoes.

"I'm heading out."

"Do your best," he called, and she pulled the door closed behind her. The click of the lock had a rather final air to it as it echoed in the nearly empty hallway.

"Oh! Hello, Brianna."

The pink-haired girl startled a bit, adjusting her glasses as she turned to address the young woman who had greeted her. May stood in the hallway, hair still slightly damp and a gold bandana in her hand. Shoving the pretty fabric in the pocket of her maroon sleeveless jacket, she offered a smile and a red-and-white gloved hand.

"I'm looking forward to our match today; your Chatot-"

"I'm not using my Chatot. Are you staying here?" Brianna pointed to the door May was standing beside - just a couple numbers smaller than her own, but she could tell it wasn't a suite.

May blinked, lowering her hand. "Uh... at this hotel? Yes?"

"Alone?"

"Why does it matter? What, you think I can't afford to stay in a nice hotel without someone else paying for it?"

The comment - and the insinuation that Brianna needed Drew for just such a purpose - stung. She adjusted her glasses again, turning half away. "I meant, I wondered if anyone was here to cheer you on this time," she commented, letting the words roll off her tongue like poison.

She didn't dare meet the older girl's eyes as an awkward, heavy silence weighed over them both. Brianna had already done her research - Max had been called home the previous day, and many of the older coordinators like Solidad and Robert had duties to return to after they'd been defeated. She already knew the answer.

When May finally answered, her voice was hard and cutting, like she'd forged knifes from the fire of her rage and was throwing them with deadly precision.

"I've got everyone I_ need _supporting me. See you on the battlefield."

Brianna walked to the elevators with her head held high, hands shaking slightly as she pressed the close button and descended to the ground floor. Step one of her victory strategy complete - demoralize opponent by reminding them how alone they really are. But who, actually, had ended demoralized? Did May mean to say that she didn't need Drew's support anymore, or that she had it... and more?

It didn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes that she quickly and angrily rubbed away. May'd had her chance years ago, and she'd thrown it away for her own ambition - they both had, but in the end Drew had changed his mind and now if he liked someone like Brianna to share quiet mornings with between contests and covert letters carried by their Masquerains, well, that wasn't her fault. Not at all.

But she still didn't feel like she'd won anything.

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"_But the princess, as well, hesitated, for she knew the war was pointless; yet the lady was desperate to protect her own people, and saw fit to attempt a fatal blow in the advantage from the other's indecision. And in that moment, to protect the kingdom, the knight himself slew the woman he loved."_

The afterparty was as excellent as always, with every attendee in formal wear and half of them tipsy from drinks from the bar. Brianna was almost, almost glad Drew had lost in the final seconds to Harley so that he hadn't faced May in the final round. It would have been too easy, then, to mark May's Ribbon Cup victory as an act of pity from an old friend.

Perhaps the press may not have seen it in that way today, but they'd used to paint her boyfriend and the evening's guest of honor as star crossed lovers, rivals of the heart, two sides of the same coin destined never to meet but to be in continuous perfectly matched strife.

It made her sicker than the wine she'd been handed by the bartender as congratulations for getting so far, but she couldn't pour years of tabloids away in a potted plant so easily.

Abandoning her readings once more, she watched Drew head into a quiet wing of the contest hall and almost called out to him. But as she hesitated, amber shawl from her strapless champagne-yellow dress slipping from one shoulder, she caught sight of a flash of crimson and ink-black satin.

So instead, she hung back and counted to ten, slipping off her sandals and followed them in silence.

The lights were off in this branch, with only the pale light from the moon outside and the glow of the exit sign above the open doors illuminating the hallway. In said doorway leaned the young man, cast in shades of silver and letting the light breeze run through his hair, seemingly oblivious to any activity behind him as he stargazed. Even so, Brianna pressed herself against the shadow of a pillar as she watched May approach Drew, her breath thick in her throat as she wished herself into invisibility.

How ironic. In previous years all she'd wanted was to be noticed by the boy she'd always loved and later by the girl who dared to defy him.

"Nice evening, isn't it?" Drew's voice was clear and smooth - he avoided drinking at functions with high amounts of press.

May stopped for a moment, then her heels resumed their cheerful clicking on the floor as she caught up with him. "Yeah, it's been absolutely incredible! Just, you know... really loud."

"So you're out here for some peace, too? Speaking from experience as a Ribbon Cup winner..." he lingered on the title as though savoring the taste in his mouth, gloating in his past victories as he would sometimes with May (but never with Brianna), "it generally takes a couple weeks for it all to die down. Just try to lay low and say you're working hard to take over your Dad's gym."

Brianna's tiny gasp was drowned out by May's own. "You knew about that? I... I didn't hardly tell anyone."

"I have my sources. Figures that you'd wait until your last ever Contest battle to win a Ribbon Cup. You always did cut it close to the wire."

"Hey!"

"You deserved it, though. Harley was pretty tough this time around."

A silence stretched on between them - Brianna half expected to hear the quiet sounds of kissing, her stomach tied up in knots, but instead May just gave a short, dry chuckle.

"This'd generally be the moment when you tossed me a rose and headed off into the sunset, right?"

Drew's reply was a little softer than it had been before, almost strained. "It's been years since I did that. Surely you don't expect things to always be as they were from when you were kids, do you?"

"... No. I wish they were, sometimes."

And Brianna knew, with a tight feeling in her chest, they weren't just talking about roses anymore.

After a long pause, he observed, "You should get going, May. Your admiring public awaits," with a smirk in his voice. There was a rustle of fabric, a heavy sigh, then the sound of heels on the floor. As May passed by, Brianna could see the slightest glassy look in those blue eyes, but the door clicked shut behind her and plunged the hallway once more into silence.

Brianna approached the doors at the end of the hallway like an inmate might approach the doors to their execution chamber, feeling the death of something heavy on her lips before she even spoke. Drew beat her to the punch, however.

"I figured you'd find me out here, too. Are you satisfied yet?"

Brianna stopped short at his cold tone, holding her shawl closer as thought it might protect her from the ice of his words. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you really think I didn't notice the way you act whenever May and I happen to be in the same city?" He turned to face her, eyes sharp and narrow, backlit and beautiful in the cool evening light. "You freeze up like a Ratatta in the eyes of a Fearow - like you're doing now."

This wasn't what she'd expected to have happen, and she almost took a step backward, her heart pounding in her chest as her world started to crack around the edges.

"I- I don't-"

"Why do you think I'm quitting coordinating?"

He was angry, an emotion she'd almost never seen from him, and certainly never at her. She scrambled for thoughts.

"W-well, I th-thought it was because you had accomplished all your dreams, but-" the words stuck in her throat momentarily, but she continued with a sudden flare of her own rage, "I bet now it's because May's quitting, isn't it?"

"It was because I thought that if I wasn't around her anymore, you'd stop acting so suspicious all the time. I was trying to convince you that I honestly wanted to be with you. But now," and he broke eye contact to run his fingers through bangs that instantly fell back into perfect order, "I don't think that's the case anymore."

Tears were starting to pool in her eyes. "Bec-cause of May?"

"Because of you, Brianna. I can't live with someone who always believes the worst of me. I... I'm sorry."

She wanted to reach out to him, but she didn't - he held eye contact with her for a moment longer before closing his eyes wearily. And then he walked away, coolly but not calmly because if nothing else than she'd watched him from a distance long enough to see that each step hurt him, that she hurt him. And she wanted to call him back, but deep down she knew that she couldn't be the one to comfort him this time. It was over, and it hurt. It hurt more than any contest loss ever had, and she crumpled to her knees in the doorway and cried, very softly, to herself.

Her mind whirled - she wanted to chase after him, to cry for his forgiveness - she wanted to hunt May down and fill the air in the main lobby with the sounds of her pain and the injustice of it all - she wanted to vanish into the night air with a last breath and vicious slash of scarlet -

Oh, she wanted anything but this. But this was how it was going to end. She'd known it all along. He'd never loved her, not really, she'd never been good enough for-

"Brianna?"

May'd come back, perhaps for one last word, and was suddenly running down the hall after her. The brightest star that night, her face etched with concern and fear.

Brianna hid her face in her shawl. "Please, pl-please May, you-"

"What happened? Are you all right? Is someone injured-"

She shoved the taller woman away, her breath coming in great heaving sobs. "No, please, please just- leave me alone, May. Go b-back to your admiring public. I never w-want to speak to you again."

And what was worst of all was, with a sigh and vicious hug, "I'm so sorry, Brianna. I'm sure you'll win the Ribbon Cup next year," she too had gone. Brianna sniffled into her lovely clothes under she heard the click of heels and heavy clunk of the door at the end of the hall close one last time, then she forced herself to her feet and headed to her hotel.

It was empty, cleared of most of his things - he'd packed before the final battle, and traveled very lightly as a general rule. It felt like any other time he'd left before she had, except that there was no note, no map with a little note on where she should head next, no rose, no last kiss and secret smile just for her. Nothing left at all.

Her tears were dried out by now, so she stripped and left her clothes in a pile on the floor, curled up naked under the covers and lulled herself to sleep with the replayed memories of everything she'd ever done wrong. No matter what May, or anyone said, there would never be a 'next time.'

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_"For his services, the knight was made a prince and offered the hand of the fair princess with the hopes that he would protect the kingdom for years to come. But while their marriage was long and happy, the knight never touched a sword again."_

A magazine suddenly flopped in front of her on the table. Giving the woman sitting across from her a scathing look, she glanced at the headlines.

_'Petalburg City Scandal - are the Blue Rose and the Silver Heir an item at last?'_

Underneath it was a blurry photo taken from some distance way of May welcoming in someone with green- no, there was no point in deluding herself. It was Drew. Even from the back, she knew every inch of him.

"Is this supposed to surprise me? Honestly, Solidad, I've seen it coming for longer than you have."

"Did you, now? I wonder why you ever tried to stand in their way." The Coorinator-turned-Ranger tapped her fingers on the table top, long hair tied back and still looking effortlessly sleek despite the stifling humidity. For those who didn't know her, it could be sometimes difficult to tell when she was joking or when she was serious.

At that moment, Brianna had no idea. A few months had chilled her agony into apathy, however, so she returned her gaze back to her reading unfazed. "The only thing I'm surprised about is what they're calling May these days. Silver Heir?"

"It's a pun off Silver Wind, and how she inherited the Gym from her father. Silver Air, you know? It's catchy. I like it."

There was a pause in the conversation, filled in by the faint hum of Ninjask in the background and the sound of the wind in the tree, the clatter of the melting ice in her glass and the murmur of the foot traffic outside the little Fortree cafe. Nothing was ever really silent, anyway; just a little bit quieter once you noticed something was missing.

Solidad took the seat across from the younger woman, waving away the waiter that instantly scurried to serve her. Habit made her carry a water bottle around constantly, and she pulled it out now, took a long drink during which Brianna refused to squirm under her gaze. She wasn't being judged, but perhaps she was being pitied.

"There's no such thing as fate, Brianna. You know that, right?"

"Yes there is," the girl insisted, and took another drink of her tea. The chair scraped as Solidad stood over her, taking the magazine back with another heavy sigh.

"Suit yourself."

She took no real comfort from the woman's absence - instead, for a moment, all she felt was the persistent sting of loneliness. Solidad was still in her reach, and she knew that the only number in her contacts list would be the one that connected her to Drew. With a sigh, she let the moment pass like sand between her fingers, and submerged herself in her reading once more as though she could drown herself in it.

_"And when the kingdom was touched by war once again, it was crushed because it had taken the best fighter off the front lines of battle. As retribution for their loss, the knight died at the hands of the people from the lady's country, and the princess lived a long and bitter life without the one she loved the most."_

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_Reviews would be appreciated; however, if the only thing you got from this story was 'BRIANNA'S A TERRIBLE BITCH' then, uh... yeah, no, please retrace your steps for you have missed the point. There's a gratuitous explanation/overall just ramble about the thought behind this linked from my homepage. Lookup. Author page. Whatever that thing is._

_But... yeah! Thanks for sticking with me, and enjoy Contestshipping Day today and everyday!_


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